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NPL 2026

Kevin Keegan71 said:
This worries me a little having read many posts about the championship v NPL - surely the NPL has to be the most important in order to gain entry into the championship the NPL is the bread and butter at the moment and gives all teams aspirations to play themselves into the Championship its the basis on how the league should be structured. I understand that the 8 teams that bought their way in would maybe differ in their views but to me we have to get away from this 'franchise' system (A League mentality) the structure must be P/R from NPL to Championship otherwise we are going to cut off the whole basis of aspirational motivation of the NPL structure. The Championship should be the pinnacle without doubt but only if the NPL serves as a feeder into it or we will start to kill off the whole point of it to me
The championship was great however we ended up with a final comprising of the 9th best team in VIC vs the 3rd best team in NSW and I understand why completely but surely we all want a Championship with the best vs the best on merit or am I on the wrong bus here?
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It's now being show that the fact that teams were essentially "gifted" a spot in the Championship due to the some sort of dare I say it historical entitlement has been to a couple of those teams detriment ( SU58 and SOFC ) . I suppose on an ongoing basis I'd like to see some sort of quaification process for the Championship via the Australia Cup somehow.
 
erogenouszone said:
You can ask this to anyone.

What's the vibe around teams these days in regards to playing in the NPL as opposed to playing in the Championship? Do you think the NPL is now less important?
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It's a 6 game competition at the end of the year where half the teams don't know they're playing in it until 2 months out.
 
Kevin Keegan71 said:
This worries me a little having read many posts about the championship v NPL - surely the NPL has to be the most important in order to gain entry into the championship the NPL is the bread and butter at the moment and gives all teams aspirations to play themselves into the Championship its the basis on how the league should be structured. I understand that the 8 teams that bought their way in would maybe differ in their views but to me we have to get away from this 'franchise' system (A League mentality) the structure must be P/R from NPL to Championship otherwise we are going to cut off the whole basis of aspirational motivation of the NPL structure. The Championship should be the pinnacle without doubt but only if the NPL serves as a feeder into it or we will start to kill off the whole point of it to me
The championship was great however we ended up with a final comprising of the 9th best team in VIC vs the 3rd best team in NSW and I understand why completely but surely we all want a Championship with the best vs the best on merit or am I on the wrong bus here?
Click to expand...
You are 100% on the right bus and I am driving it :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:

Despite being the beneficiary of both automatic entry and locked in participation, I really hope that ALL championship spots moving forward after this early 2-3 seasons are awarded based on season table position ONLY.... Until this is the case the NPL is the most important and the Championship is a little end of season tourney.
 
erogenouszone said:
It's now being show that the fact that teams were essentially "gifted" a spot in the Championship due to the some sort of dare I say it historical entitlement has been to a couple of those teams detriment ( SU58 and SOFC ) . I suppose on an ongoing basis I'd like to see some sort of qualification process for the Championship via the Australia Cup somehow.
Click to expand...

There was a very extensive criteria list you needed to meet to become a foundation club. There were numerous clubs in contention until the $500k bond needed to be coughed up, then they fell away.

To say clubs got there because of their "Historical Entitlement" is laughable, cause at the end of the day, if clubs like Sydney United and Sydney Olympic didn't have the money, they wouldn't have been considered.
 
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Beretta said:
There was a very extensive criteria list you needed to meet to become a foundation club. There were numerous clubs in contention until the $500k bond needed to be coughed up, then they fell away.

To say clubs got there because of their "Historical Entitlement" is laughable, cause at the end of the day, if clubs like Sydney United and Sydney Olympic didn't have the money, they wouldn't have been considered.
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I'm very aware of that however and this isn't about money at all, you were all approached or applied or both and you all easily made the criteria because well they are all "big" clubs. My point is and you know all of this as well as I did that if the comp wasn't taken as seriously as it should be despite the financial committment that was required as part of the criteria then that's on the club administration and players etc. Now that the money has been as part of the criteria and you're "in" then this comp like it has been alluded to above becomes no different to the A League. Now the clubs I know don't mind that but moving forward to expand the comp I suppose why not make clubs qualify for it.
 
erogenouszone said:
I'm very aware of that however and this isn't about money at all, you were all approached or applied or both and you all easily made the criteria because well they are all "big" clubs. My point is and you know all of this as well as I did that if the comp wasn't taken as seriously as it should be despite the financial committment that was required as part of the criteria then that's on the club administration and players etc. Now that the money has been as part of the criteria and you're "in" then this comp like it has been alluded to above becomes no different to the A League. Now the clubs I know don't mind that but moving forward to expand the comp I suppose why not make clubs qualify for it.
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I think that have been given automatic spots because it is meant to eventually be a home and away competition above the NPL space. FA need to make this happen quickly.

If they don't make the Championship home and away above the NPL, they might as well just keep it as an end of season tournament but with the Top 2 from each NPL which would mean 16 teams.
 
erogenouszone said:
I'm very aware of that however and this isn't about money at all, you were all approached or applied or both and you all easily made the criteria because well they are all "big" clubs. My point is and you know all of this as well as I did that if the comp wasn't taken as seriously as it should be despite the financial committment that was required as part of the criteria then that's on the club administration and players etc. Now that the money has been as part of the criteria and you're "in" then this comp like it has been alluded to above becomes no different to the A League. Now the clubs I know don't mind that but moving forward to expand the comp I suppose why not make clubs qualify for it.
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I'm sure our club will make a better showing this season in the championship, hopefully don't have 9 injuries and strengthen the squad. There are a lot of wrongs they need to make right as they've pissed off a lot of our community.

But first, NPL.
 
Kevin Keegan71 said:
This worries me a little having read many posts about the championship v NPL - surely the NPL has to be the most important in order to gain entry into the championship the NPL is the bread and butter at the moment and gives all teams aspirations to play themselves into the Championship its the basis on how the league should be structured. I understand that the 8 teams that bought their way in would maybe differ in their views but to me we have to get away from this 'franchise' system (A League mentality) the structure must be P/R from NPL to Championship otherwise we are going to cut off the whole basis of aspirational motivation of the NPL structure. The Championship should be the pinnacle without doubt but only if the NPL serves as a feeder into it or we will start to kill off the whole point of it to me
The championship was great however we ended up with a final comprising of the 9th best team in VIC vs the 3rd best team in NSW and I understand why completely but surely we all want a Championship with the best vs the best on merit or am I on the wrong bus here?
Click to expand...

Until such a time as the Championship is it's own H&A competition and has some long term stability, it is just the cherry on top of the sundae. Even if/when it becomes that, everything must be done to lift up the NPL and their clubs, as opposed to trying to steal from it, as that better guarantees ongoing growth and improvement.

I also appreciate that there is a certain financial and professional threshold that is required for a national competition, particularly given the sharp increase in cost to travel between states (compared to most other countries). While other countries do promote on sporting merit, there are generally benchmarks required to be allowed in to higher competitions - things like player contract values, stadium seating capacity, corporate regulation etc. I foresee a similar set of requirements being put in place once the Championship becomes a H&A league and we reach 12 teams.

The J-League's approach has a lot of merit:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.League_100_Year_Plan_club_status
 

Former Socceroo Terry Antonis Signs with St George FC for 2026​

mens.nplnsw.com.au

Former Socceroo Terry Antonis Signs with St George FC for 2026 - NPL Men's NSW

St George FC have made a major statement ahead of the 2026 National Premier Leagues Men’s NSW season, securing the signature of former Socceroo midfielder Terry Antonis. The 32-year-old will call Barton Park home after an extensive professional career that has seen him feature in the A-League...
mens.nplnsw.com.au mens.nplnsw.com.au
 
Beretta said:

Former Socceroo Terry Antonis Signs with St George FC for 2026​

mens.nplnsw.com.au

Former Socceroo Terry Antonis Signs with St George FC for 2026 - NPL Men's NSW

St George FC have made a major statement ahead of the 2026 National Premier Leagues Men’s NSW season, securing the signature of former Socceroo midfielder Terry Antonis. The 32-year-old will call Barton Park home after an extensive professional career that has seen him feature in the A-League...
mens.nplnsw.com.au mens.nplnsw.com.au
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as far as I'm concerned he's always had a good "ticker" pardon the pun.
Good midfielder both attack/defense and has a cracker of a shot when connects well.
IF he doesn't rip up the NPL I'll be dam surprised though he might take some adjusting to the physicality - least he's with the original StG.
 
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Again I stress.. The Championship is a 6 game end of season competition. You cannot bomb a 30 week comp to prioritise the off-chance of scoring an auto Australia Cup spot
 
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